A Feast of Vultures: The Hidden Business of Democracy in India

by Josy Joseph

From the shadow that fell on the young Rajiv Gandhi’s integrity to the collapse of the coalitions and politicians who came after, from the Hindu right’s attack on Babri Masjid to the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat in 2002, from the vigilante groups that murder citizens for possessing meat to the banning of books of great academic value, from misogynistic religious beliefs that deprive women of their fundamental rights to religious movements that fish in India’s troubled waters – India’s billion-plus people carry the cross of its illiberal democracy. Yes, there is change coming. In the long term, we might just be working to build a nation that works for its people. The long term is, however, too far away. In the long term, we would all be dead. In the short term, too many Indians live without hope in a crony capitalist state. This monopoly of the few over the resources and will of the state must end.